# Microscopy of Plume & Mold



## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

I have access here in my lab to a very nice microscope that should be able to take some really closeup pictures of Plume and Mold. If someone would like to donate a cigar that has either Plume or Mold on it I will take a picture and upload it to this website. CAVEAT- because of the way the microscope is set up I will have to dissect the piece of the cigar that contains the Plume or Mold on it rendering the cigar useless. However, if anyone wants to cut off a piece of the cigar that contains the plume or mold and send that to me, that would be fine too and you can still have the majority of your cigar.

This is for purely curiosity. There have been other pictures taken of plume and mold, but I want to really see up close and personal what the plume looks like. Mold, piffle! I have seen enough of that in textbooks.

I will also keep you all updated as the experiment progresses.


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## colgate (Jan 18, 2005)

CarpeDNA said:


> I have access here in my lab to a very nice microscope that should be able to take some really closeup pictures of Plume and Mold. If someone would like to donate a cigar that has either Plume or Mold on it I will take a picture and upload it to this website. CAVEAT- because of the way the microscope is set up I will have to dissect the piece of the cigar that contains the Plume or Mold on it rendering the cigar useless. However, if anyone wants to cut off a piece of the cigar that contains the plume or mold and send that to me, that would be fine too and you can still have the majority of your cigar.
> 
> This is for purely curiosity. There have been other pictures taken of plume and mold, but I want to really see up close and personal what the plume looks like. Mold, piffle! I have seen enough of that in textbooks.
> 
> I will also keep you all updated as the experiment progresses.


no plumy sticks to offer up but I am indeed curious as to what in the heck that avatar is.


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## kenstogie (Jun 14, 2005)

THis is a great idea but I must say most of my stix are in the pre plume stage and are developing the pores on the wrapper. However I will gift a couple of stix to BOTL that has a plume covered stick for the sake of science and my curiosity.


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

I was thinking that it may be better if it was possible to get a sample from the foot of something smaller in ring gauge- like a corona. Then all that would have to happen would be to sacrifice the end of a cigar and not the whole cigar. Then the rest would be smokeable! All I would need would be one teeny piece off the end.


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## tazziedevil (Sep 8, 2005)

That would be interesting to see. What kind of work you do, CarpeDNA?


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## SeanGAR (Jul 9, 2004)

Use a dissecting scope ..... 20X should be more than enough. You don't have a tremendous depth of field but if you play with the light aperture it should be OK.


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## Lumpold (Apr 28, 2005)

I have an old penguin stick thats plume-ified, PM sent...


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

Hey guys! Lumpold is going to be sending me a sacrificial cigar. Let us pray.

Some responses...

I would use a dissecting microscope except I don't have access to one that has a camera attachment. My goal is to provide for the group. There are some pretty decent pictures found from a link in another thread that would be around 20X or so.

As far as the type of work I do- I am a biochemist studying the genetic basis of infertility in humans.

I will take some pictures soon and post them on the board just as soon as I get back from giving a talk in Montreal.

Take care BOTL!


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## MiamiE (Mar 5, 2005)

post a pic of the cigar also before being dissected. ive never seen plume, i suspect i have some Padron Annies with it, but id like to be 100% sure.


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## The Rev (Feb 26, 2005)

Carry the torch! I can't wait to see the results!


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## Charles (Sep 28, 2005)

I was too hasty this weekend. I had to glorias with mold on the end, but already performed my own operation. Next time.


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## tazziedevil (Sep 8, 2005)

Interesting, CarpeDNA. I have a degree in Biochem from the U of O...I studied "Inorganic Ion uptake by heme-like proteins" For my honors thesis. Can't remember much about it either...and it was only three years ago!


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

Just an update here. Lumpold notified me that he sent me the cigar of sacrifice. Since it will be coming from the UK I am not sure exactly when it will get here in Texas; I will keep everyone updated.

CarpeDNA


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## cameroncouch02 (Sep 22, 2005)

I have a stick I could send ya. I dont know whats on it. But I got 4 that look like it.


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## moki (Jan 12, 2004)

MiamiE said:


> post a pic of the cigar also before being dissected. ive never seen plume, i suspect i have some Padron Annies with it, but id like to be 100% sure.


Different tobacco leaf produces different kinds of plume. One thing I've found characteristic of Opus X tobacco is that it produces plume "sparkles" after a number of years, like this:

http://people.ambrosiasw.com/~andrew/cigars/or_1996_opus_x_plume_closeup.jpg

I've seen a number of Opus X cigars with a lot of age on 'em, and when they produce plume, it's always of the sparkely-kind, with one exception... One of the most amazing things I've seen is an old Opus that had literally chunks of plume on it, like barnacles on a ship:

http://people.ambrosiasw.com/~andrew/cigars/or_opus_x_plume_chunks.jpg

It almost looks like mold, but it was hard, would not scrape off, and definitely was not mold. Was an amazing smoke, wish I took a better picture of it.

Must have just been a crazy-oily aberration.


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## Warhorse545 (Oct 16, 2005)

Should be real interesting to see. Thanks to CarpeDNA for the camera work and Lumpold for the donation.


Stacey


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

Hey all! As far as donations are concerned, I am happy with whatever anyone can give. However, please don't part with smokes that are really expensive and are dear to you.

In addition, I AM interested in having some moldy ones just for comparison (and the yucky! factor).

CarpeDNA


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

I have received the Royal Airmail from Lumpold with cigars intact! Thanks for the extrees! Very kind of you!

In any case I have an eighteen hour protein purification to attend to tomorrow concerning my research so I will get to the microscopy later this week. I will keep you updated!

CarpeDNA


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## Warhorse545 (Oct 16, 2005)

Cool deal. Thanks for the update and can't wait to see the results.

Stacey


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## Charles (Sep 28, 2005)

Thanks for the update. Post some pictures as soon as possible


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

I am going to be doing the microscopy starting Monday. However, it has been requested that I take some pictures before I start. Is there a proper size of picture file that I should be uploading? Maybe I need to post this question in another section. Any recommendations?

BTW, I think this is my 100th post (mostly of the non-whoring type).


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## kenstogie (Jun 14, 2005)

CarpeDNA said:


> I am going to be doing the microscopy starting Monday. However, it has been requested that I take some pictures before I start. Is there a proper size of picture file that I should be uploading? Maybe I need to post this question in another section. Any recommendations?
> 
> BTW, I think this is my 100th post (mostly of the non-whoring type).


So that you can actually see up close I would something High res like 5 mp I know that would make the file large so you could use dropload or imagecave. etc JMHO of course.


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

I know that some of you are waiting patiently for some high resolution pictures of crystals on cigars.

Here is the deal. I received a Penguin churchill kindly donated by Lumpold. When I first looked at the picture in Lumpold's gallery it looked like the cigar was covered in bloom. However, when I got the cigar the bloom was not as evident as it was in the picture. I have no clue as to why the bloom disappeared. There is minimal crystal formation on the cigar and I will get some pictures today if possible. However, please don't hold your breath on these pictures as the crystals are not that big and hard to see.

In the meantime, if someone has a cigar with some pretty clear bloom on it toward the end of the cigar, use a sharp razor blade to remove part of the foot and send just that part to me. I don't want people giving up their most prized possessions!

Also, if someone has a cigar with mold, send that to me too and I will take pictures.

Thanks for everyone's patience!


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

Howdy folks! I have some pictures to look at.

Before cutting into the cigar I made a prayer to the god of cigars so that I may not be struck down for desecrating the holy product. I cut out a 6mm x 15mm piece and looked at it through a transilluminating microscope. This means that the light is being shown through the piece- kinda like looking through a dirty window. I used the 10X objective and the 20X objective. Now for you science types out there I don't know what the final magnification was because of the camera hookup and I also did not have the time to calibrate for size.

The pictures are kinda interesting. What we are looking at are the beginning stages of plume. It doesn't look anything like mold. However it does almost look like amber- kinda jelly-like. What would be better is if I had illumination from above so that I could get mostly reflected light. I will try tomorrow to get that.

Picture 1- Wide angle of the cigar
Picture 2- Closer up of the cigar seeing minimal plume
Pictures 3-5- 10X objective
Picture 6- 20X objective


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

Pictures 3 and 4- 10X objective


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

Here are the last ones, one at 10X and the next one at 20X.


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## al two (Jul 7, 2005)

that's pretty cool. does anyone know what plume actualy is? like scientifically? it has to be some kind of fungus or mold right? i mean the oils come to the surface and just turn into this white dust. can anyone fill me in in a more scientific/organic chemistry way? just out of curiosity......

thanks guys 


good job Carpe


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## Nely (Nov 11, 2004)

Wow, interestin stuff! Thanks!


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## NCatron (Sep 7, 2005)

al two said:


> that's pretty cool. does anyone know what plume actualy is? like scientifically? it has to be some kind of fungus or mold right? i mean the oils come to the surface and just turn into this white dust. can anyone fill me in in a more scientific/organic chemistry way? just out of curiosity......
> 
> thanks guys
> 
> good job Carpe


I personally don't "know", but considering the sparkle, I'd bet my foot that it is a crystallization process where the oils are forming small crystals. If it is, an interesting experiment to try spreading bloom would be to take some of the bloom from one cigar, and rub it on another. These crystals could then act as seed crystals for further crystallization.


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## LSU_Stogie (Feb 13, 2005)

NCatron said:


> I personally don't "know", but considering the sparkle, I'd bet my foot that it is a crystallization process where the oils are forming small crystals. If it is, an interesting experiment to try spreading bloom would be to take some of the bloom from one cigar, and rub it on another. These crystals could then act as seed crystals for further crystallization.


this sounds like mendel's experiments with the pea plants...


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

Hello again folks. I managed to borrow a light source used in dissecting microscopy and used it to light the subject from above. The only way I could get the light on the subject was from the side so there is a shadowing effect. These pictures are more meaningful in that you can clearly see the white crystals that are on the outside of the cigar. Data not Shown (I am sure SeanGAR will get a kick out that)- the underside of the wrapper didn't have any crystals and looked smooth.

Enjoy


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

Here is one last picture. Once again, let's please thank Lumpold for offering his fine Penguin cigar for sacrifice in the name of curiousity!


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## CarpeDNA (Sep 11, 2005)

By the way, I am still accepting other cigars for mold just to make the comparison.


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## SeanGAR (Jul 9, 2004)

Thanks for the pictures.

Kinda makes me want to dust off the old X-ray diffractometer.


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## Warhorse545 (Oct 16, 2005)

Interesting and thanks for doing this. 
Stacey


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## LiteHedded (Apr 10, 2005)

neat!


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## darkfusion (Oct 25, 2005)

Pretty cool .


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